________________
MAHAVIRA'S WANDERING AS AN ASCETIC
household-divinity created a cow and calf and stood nearby on his path. When he began to rub his dirty foot on the calf, the calf spoke in a human voice to the cow:
66
Look, mother! this shameless animal of a man, devoid of dharma, pitiless, wipes his own foot covered with dirt on me. The cow replied: "Do not be distressed. Nothing is impossible for him who, an ass for love, hastens to enjoy his own mother.
59
Hearing that, he reflected:
How do these cows speak with human voices and how am I the son of the courtesan ? I shall see the courtesan herself. " With this thought he went to her house and she gave him respectful welcome by rising UP, et cetera. Disturbed by the speech of the cow, putting off the business of love, after a moment he said to her, "Tell your own history. She pretended not to hear and displayed emotions and feelings. 103 For that is the chief instruction in love of courtesans. He said: "I will give double the money agreed on. Tell the truth about yourself. There is a curse on you from your parents. Questioned again and again in this way by him, she told the true facts. He, anxious, left and went to his village.
""
59
23
He asked his parents there: Am I your natural-born son or some one else, obtained or bought? Tell me the facts. When they said, "You are our natural-born son," he did not eat, grieved by the falsehood. Then the parents described truly how they got him; and he knew that the courtesan Veśikā was his mother.
CC
Jain Education International
87
He went to Campã and told his own history to Veśikā. She too knew that he was her son and wept, her face hidden from shame. He paid money and released his mother from the procuress. He took her to his village, released her, and set her on the path in dharma. Because he was the son of Vesikā, he was called Vaiśikāyana. At that very time, disgusted with worldly things, he took the vows of an ascetic. Devoted to the
99
103 101. Havabhāva. See III, n. 212; Sahityadarpana, 3. 93-94; Daśarūpa, 2. 48-51.
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
